Template



Feb. 6, 1968 A. D. PlCClNlNI 3,367,295

TEMPLATE Filed Aug. 26, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet l 2| I INVENTOR AUGUST D. PlCClNlNI ATTORNEY A. D. PICCININI Feb. 6, 1968 TEMPLATE 4 SheetsSheet Filed Aug. 26, 1965 INVENTOR AUGUST D. PICCININI ATTORNEY Feb. 6, 1968 A. D. PICCININI 3,367,295

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g YNVENT OR ATTORNEY Feb. 6, 1968 A. D. PICCININI 3,367,295

TEMPLATE Filed Aug. 26, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR AUGUST D. PICCININI ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,367,295 TEMPLATE August I). Piccinini, 3623 E. Madison St, Baltimore, Md. 212% Filed Aug. 25, I965, Ser. No. 582,676 (:laims. (Cl. II2I46) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A template for sewing two pieces of material of unequal length, having a lower plate, an intermediate plate hinged to the lower plate for holding the shorter piece of material against the lower plate, a three section upper plate hinged to the lower plate, the end sections of which are flat and adapted to hold the longer of the two pieces against the intermediate plate with the edges of the longer piece of material coincident with the edges of the shorter piece of material and the center section of which is provided with pins for producing puckers in the longer piece of material to take up the excess length of the longer piece over the shorter piece, shaped edges on the lower, intermediate and upper plates forming a guide for sewing the two pieces of material together and pressure devices for holding the plates in clamped position on the two pieces of material.

This invention relates to a template to be used in joining the edges of two pieces of material, particularly where the two pieces of material are of uneven length and the edges are of reversed curvature, and where it is desired to join the edges of material evenly and smoothly, such as the joining of the shoulder seam of front and back coat panels.

In the past the joining of the shoulder seams of panels in a coat has been done by hand and only by skilled workers. In the construction of coats, the back panel of material is longer along the shoulder seams than the front panel in that portion of a coat which is between the collar and the sleeve and the joining of these two panels of material must be such that the finished product must present both an even and smooth finish. The panels are joined so that the ends are matched as to length and the difference in length of the two panels is taken up in the center portion by puckering the back panel adjacent its edge and sewing it to the edge of the shorter front panel so that the difference in length is taken up in small increments to conform to the contour of the shoulder of the wearer.

It is one object of the present invention to provide a template which is semi-automatic in operation and which will position the shoulder seam edges of the two panels so that they can be joined together by sewing in a smooth and even manner by semi-skilled labor.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a template which is formed of a fixed base plate, a hinged intermediate plate, a pair of hinged end plates and a hinged center plate, and so operated that the one panel of material to be joined will be first gripped by the intermediate plate while the end portions of the other panel are in matched position with the end portions of the first panel and the difference in length of the second panel of material will be engaged by the center plate and so arranged as to evenly space the puckered central section through the central area between the end portions.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a base plate, a hinged intermediate plate and a hinged upper divided plate, the upper plate being divided into three sections forming independently operated end pairs and an independently operated center plate which cooperate with the base plate and intermediate plate to securely hold the two panels of material of uneven length so that they may be joined, by sewing, in such a manner that the side edges will be evenly matched and the excess material in the longer piece will be taken up in the center of the finished product.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a template which will grip and hold the edges of the two panels of material of uneven length and of reversed curved edges so that they may 'be joined by sewing by semi-skilled operators to provide a smooth and even appearance in the finished product, and that the operation of the template in the gripping operation is semi-automatic.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide power means for operating the movable plates, the upper end plates being separately and individually operable, and after the lateral sides of the two pieces are held in aligned position, the center plate will be operated to so space the excess material in the longer piece that the two pieces of material may be joined to provide a smooth and even appearance.

While several objects of the invention have been pointed out, other objects, uses and advantages will become more apparent as the nature of the invention is more fully disclosed which consists in its novel construction, combination and arrangement of the several parts shown in the accompanying drawings and described in the detailed description to follow. In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of the template with the operating pistons, showing the template in clamped position.

FIGURE 2 is a similar view showing the top plates in raised position.

FIGURE 3 is a cross sectional view taken on line 3-3 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a cross sectional view taken on line 44 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 is a cross sectional view taken on line 5-5 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 6 is a cross sectional view taken on line 66 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 7 is a cross sectional view taken on line 7-7 of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 8 is a top plan view of the template showing the material to be joined in position and without the operating pistons and connecting levers.

FIGURE 9 is a view similar to that of FIGURE 8 and showing the gathered material of the center section plainly illustrated.

FIGURE 10 is a cross sectional view taken on line 10-10 of FIGURE 9.

FIGURE 11 is a cross sectional view taken on line 1111 of FIGURE 9.

FIGURE 12 is a cross sectional view taken on line 12-12 of FIGURE 9.

FIGURE 13 is a plan view of the front panel of a coat showing a convex edge.

FIGURE 14 is a plan view of a back panel of a coat showing a concave edge.

FIGURE 15 is a plan view showing the back panel normally positioned over the front panel illustrating the difference in length of the two edges of the front and back panels to be sewed together.

FIGURE 16 is a plan view showing the position of the two edges of the front and back panels to be sewed after the lateral edges of the two panels are placed in alignment.

FIGURE 17 is a sectional view taken on line 1717 of FIGURE 16.

Referring to the drawings and to FIGURES l and 2. in particular, the template is shown supported upon, but not attached to, a support 21 and is made up of a fixed base plate 22 on which an intermediate plate 23 is hingedly mounted by hinges 24. Also hingedly supported on this base plate 22 are a plurality of upper plates 29, 31 and 32.

A base strip 25 abuts the rear of the hinges 24 and serves as a support for hinges 26, 27 and 28 which respectively support upper end plate 29, upper center plate 31 and upper end plate 32.

Also carried directly on the base plate 22 is a support 33 carrying a plurality of operating cylinders 34, 35, 36, 37 and 38. Reciprocating in the respective cylinders, are pistons similar to that shown at 42 in FIGURES 3 and 4 which furnish the mechanical force to operate the intermediate and upper plates to securely clamp the material to be sewed.

The necessary linkage for connecting the plates with the operating pistons comprises piston rods 45, 46, 47, 48 and 49 connected to their respective pistons and reciprocating therewith. The piston rods 45 and 46 are connected to pins 51 and 52 respectively. The pin 51 serves as a pivot pin to connect levers 53 and 54, while the pin 52 serves in a like manner for the levers 55 and 56. The lever 53 is pivotally attached to one side of the intermediate plate by upstanding ears 57 and the lever 55 is attached to the other side of the intermediate plate by the upstanding cars 58. The lever 53 is connected to the lever 54 by the pin 51, while the free end of the lever '54 is attached to the base plate 22 by pin 59 and the upstanding ears 61. The two pistons carried in cylinders 34 and 35 working together to move the intermediate plate 23 on its hinges through an arc sufiicient to insert the material below the intermediate plate and to securely clamp the edge of the material between the base plate 22 and the intermediate hinged plate 23.

A row of upstanding limiting pins 63 secured in the base plate 22 are spaced an equal and definite distance from the guide edge 64 of the base plate 22. The intermediate hinged plate 23 is formed with holes 65 corresponding to the position of these pins so that the intermediate hinged plate in its clamped position will avoid the pins and fall over the pins and closely contact the base plate 22,.The forward edge 66 of the intermediate hinged plate exactly corresponds to the guide edge 64 of the base plate 22, and together with the forward edge 67 of the upper hinged plates forms a guiding edge for the machine stitching.

FIGURE 4 of the drawings shows a cross section taken on the line 44 of FIGURE 1 and this section shows the disposition of the template through one of the end plates when the template is in clamped position, without the material being in the template. The lower and shorter front panel 10 is clamped between the base plate 22 and the intermediate hinged plate 23, while the edge 12 of the longer back panel 12 is superimposed over the lower front panel 10 and is clamped between the intermediate plate 23 and the upper end plate 29. This figure shows the lever connection to the piston where the end plate 29 is provided with upstanding ears 71 to which the lever 72 is pivotally attached. The free end of the lever 72 is pivotally connected to a second lever 73 and to the piston rod 47 by the pin 74. The free end of lever 73 is pivoted to the upstanding ears 75 located on the base plate 22. Movement of the piston 42 from the clamped position (shown in solid lines) to the open position (shown in dotted lines) is illustrated here although it would not normally be included in this view.

FIGURE 3 shows a section taken through the center of the template on line 3-3 of FIGURE 1 and illustrates the structure and working of the upper center plate 31. This plate operates in a manner similar to the end plate 29 through levers 76 and 77 and the piston rod 48. The upper center plate has an attached reinforcing strip 78 on which are mounted a plurality of parallel horizontally disposed pins 79 (FIGURE 7). These pins 79 have counterparts, carried by the center section of the intermediate plate 23, in pins 81 which are likewise mounted in a reinforcing strip 82 attached to the center portion of the intermediate plate 23. The pins of the strip 82 extend upward from the strip and are then bent to a substantial horizontal position. The pins 79 extend downward from the upper center plate strip 78 and are then bent to a horizontal position, with the pins being so spaced that when the template is in clamped position the pins 79 and the pins 81 alternate and are in substantially the same horizontal plane. Beyond the ends of the pins the upper center plate is formed with a guide edge 83 which when the template is clamped will coincide with the guide edge of the intermediate plate 23 and the base plate 22.

The coat panels are particularly illustrated in FIG- URES 13 to 17.

FIGURE 13 is a plan view of a front panel 10 having a convex edge 11, and FIGURE 14 shows a corresponding back panel 12 having a concave edge 13, and FIG- UR-E 15 shows the diiference in length of these two panels.

Referring in particular to FIGURE 15, the length of the front panel 10 is shown as extending from A to B, and the back panel 12 is shown extending from A to C and it is the difference from B to C in the back panel that must be absorbed into the distance from A to B, that is, the length of the front panel. This is done adjacent the center of the two panels, as best shown in FIGURES 16 and 17. The side edge 11' of the front panel and the side edge 13' of the back panel are aligned, also the side edge 11 and the side edge 13" of the two panels are likewise aligned, and at the same time the edges 11 and 13 along which the seam is run are brought into alignment as shown in FIGURE 16. This is done at the time the pieces are clamped into the template.

The use of the template is particularly illustrated in FIGURES 8 to 12, and its operation may be described as follows: First, all the movable clamps are raised in open position. The edge 11 of the front panel is placed over the edge of the base plate 22 and in contact with the pins 63 and the intermediate plate 23 is operated to clamp the edge 11 to the base plate 22, as shown in FIG- URE 8. The next step is to place the edge 13 of the back panel over the upper surface of the intermediate plate 23, fitting the back panel over the same lateral distance as the front panel and in contact with the pins 63 and in a manner whereby area 12' of the back panel is opposite area 10' of the front panel, and the area 12" of the back panel is opposite the area 10 of the front panel, and the area 1.. of the back panel is extended over the row of lower pins 81 carried on the upper surface of the intermediate plate. At this point, the two upper end plates 29 and 32 are first operated to clamp the side areas 12 and 12" in contact with the upper surface of the intermediate plate and in location over the corresponding lateral areas 10 and 10 of the front panel. It will be noted at this point that the central upper plate 31 is not in clamping position, and it will also be noted in FIGURE 17 that there is an excess of material shown at 12" in the back panel, and it is this excess material that is gathered in small ripples as shown in dotted lines that is formed by the pins 79 in the upper center surface of the intermediate plate when the upper center plate is moved to clamping position. It is during this movement of the upper central clamping plate that the upper row of pins 79 engage the material in the area 12" of the back panel 12, forcing the material downwardly between the pins 81 to form it into regular increments (shown in FIGURE 10). The spacing of the material is done just before the material is clamped and the clamping action holds the material so that the difference in length of the back panel is gathered regularly and evenly. With the material securely clamped by the template, the template and material pass by the stitching needle adjacent the coinciding edges of the several plates for forming the shoulder seam, after which all the movable clamping plates are released.

While a particular form of the invention is shown and described, it is not intended as a limitation as the scope of the invention is best defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A template for sewing two pieces of material of uneven length together along their edges comprising:

means for holding the lower and shorter piece of material;

means for holding the upper and longer piece of material in position over the lower piece of material so that the ends of the two pieces of material coincide;

means associated with the holding means for forming the center section of the upper piece of material into a sinuous configuration comprised of a plurality of equal ripples at the edge thereof;

means clamping the two pieces of material tightly together with the equal ripples arranged in the center section of the longer piece of material; and

means providing a guide for sewing the two pieces of material together along their edges.

2. A template according to claim 1 wherein the means for holding the lower and narrower piece of material comprises a base plate and a hingedly attached intermediate plate, said clamping means bringing the intermediate plate into clamping relation with the base plate.

3. A template according to claim 1 wherein the means for holding the upper and longer piece of material comprises an intermediate hinged plate, upper end plates and an upper center plate, said clamping means bringing the upper plates into clamping relation with the intermediate plate.

4. A template according to claim 1 wherein the means providing the guide for sewing the material comprises a base plate, an intermediate plate hinged to the base plate, a pair of upper end plates and an upper center plate, said upper plates being hinged to said base plate, all of said plates being brought into clamping relationship to clamp the two pieces of material therebetween, the adjacent forward edges of said plates coinciding to form said guide.

5. A template according to claim 3 wherein the means associated with the holding means for forming the center section of the upper piece of material into sinuous configuration comprises a horizontal row of pins attached to the intermediate plate receiving the upper end wider piece of material, and a second off-set horizontal row of pins attached to the upper center plate adapted, when the plates are in clamping relation, to engage the material supported by said first row of pins alternately and from the opposite side with the first row of pins, the rows of pins when in clamped position lying substantially in the same plane.

6. A template for joining two pieces of material of uneven length comprising:

a base plate including a material limiting means and a guide edge;

an intermediate plate hingedly attached to said base plate and adapted to be brought in clamping relation with said base plate, said intermediate plate having a guide edge corresponding to the guide edge of said base plate;

a pair of upper end plates hingedly attached to said base plate and adapted to be brought in clamping relation with said intermediate plate, said upper end plates having guide edges corresponding to the guide edges of said intermediate plate and said base plate;

an upper center plate hingedly supported by said base plate and adapted to be brought into clamping relation with said intermediate plate;

means associated with the center portion of said intermediate plate and with the upper center plate adapted to engage the piece of material of greater length and to divide the difference in length between the two pieces of material into equal increments whereby the joining of the two pieces of material along said center portion presents a smooth and regular appearance.

7. A template according to claim 6 wherein the material limiting means on the base plate is a row of upstanding pins spaced from and substantially parallel to the guide edge of the base plate.

8. A template according to claim 6 wherein the means associated with the center portion of said intermediate plate and with the upper center plate comprises a row of horizontally extending pins secured to the center portion of the intermediate plate and a second row of horizontally extending pins secured to the upper center plate, said pins of the intermediate plate being off-set to alternate with the pins of the upper center plate when said intermediate plate and said upper center plate are in clamped position, the pins of the intermediate plate and the pins of the upper center plate, when in clamped position, being in substantially the same horizontal plane.

9. A template according to claim 6 and including opcrating pistons; means connecting said pistons to the hinged intermediate and upper plates whereby actuation of the pistons will bring the plates into clamping relation.

10. A template for joining by stitching two pieces of material of uneven length comprising:

a base plate adapted to receive the shorter of the two pieces of material, said base plate including a forward guiding edge for use in joining the two pieces of material;

means carried by the base plate substantially parallel to the guide edge serving to limit insertion of the pieces of material into the template;

an intermediate plate hingedly supported by said base plate, and adapted to be brought into clamping relation with the base plate, said intermediate late including a forward guide edge corresponding with the guide edge of said base plate, said intermediate plate being provided with means cooperating with the limiting means of the base plate and permitting insertion of the wider piece of material until said material engages said limiting means;

upper end plates hingedly supported by said base plate and adapted to be brought into clamping relation with the end portions of the intermediate plate, said upper end plates including forward guide edges and being provided with means for clearing said limiting means to clamp the material between the limiting means and the forward guide edges of said end plates and said intermediate plate;

an upper center plate hingedly supported by said base plate and adapted to be brought into clamping relation with the center portion of said intermediate plate, said upper center plate including a forward guide edge corresponding to the guide edges of the base plate and the intermediate plate, all of said guiding edges of said plates together forming a guide for a stitching machine to join the two pieces of material; and

means associated with the center portion of the intermediate plate and the upper center plate dividing the difference in length of material into substantially equal increments whereby the two pieces of material when joined along said center portion present a smooth and regular appearance.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,553,194 5/1951 Hovel 223-2 2,853,214 9/1958 Faw 2232 3,034,458 5/1962 Bennison l122 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,376,273 9/ 1964 France.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

H. HAMPTON HUNTER, Examiner. 

